Page 17

chapter sixteen

Enzo

T he vampire squats down at a particular bloody spot on the living room carpet. She runs her fingers over the blood on the floor and sniffs it.

We waited until night to go visit the crime scene. We wanted enough time for the cops to clear out.

“The wife was killed here,” she says.

“How the hell does she know that?” Chayton asks through our link.

“The scent of the blood. She can determine which spot belongs to who,” Alarick answers.

“You couldn’t do that?” I ask.

“No. I can trace every drop of blood in this house, but I couldn’t tell you which person the drop belonged to. That requires years of vampire skills.”

“I’m starting to think you suck at being a vampire,” Zyion says jokingly to Alarick.

“Screw you, Zyion,” Alarick replies.

We all laugh out loud. The vampire looks up at us before standing up straight.

“What’s so funny?”

“It’s an inside joke,” I say. “Only amongst members of this pack.”

She rolls her eyes. I kind of miss the banter with her. Since I reminded myself why there can be no peace between me and the vampires, I’ve kept my distance. I wish I could say it was easy. For some reason, I found myself searching for her whenever I knew she was near. For instance, in the cafeteria today. Despite trying to ignore her, my gaze would find its way to her.

I tried my best to hear what she and her sister were talking about. She’s gotten better at keeping her voice low when she’s around me. I caught the end of their argument. Seems there is trouble in paradise.

“Does anything stand out to you about this crime scene?” she asks Chayton, ignoring my attempt to bait her into an argument.

Chayton looks around. “Not really.”

“Look at the blood splatter. This is gruesome,” she says lowly, causing us to turn and look at the walls.

“Isn’t that you guys’ MO?” Zyion asks.

She sighs. “When you hunt down deer to eat, do you toss the meat into the trees?”

“No. Of course not. That’s wasteful.”

“Exactly. Look around you. All this blood splatter is food. They weren’t feeding.” She looks around at the blood on the walls and carpets. It looks as if someone took buckets of it and tossed it around the house on every surface they could get to.

“This was a message.”

I look around at the mess. Seeing the blood splatter wouldn’t have tipped me off they didn’t eat. I just assumed they were messy, but she’s right. I don’t think they drank a drop of blood.

“Who is sending the message and who is supposed to receive it?” Alarick asks.

“That is what we need to answer,” Chayton states.

“Is there any way we can reach out to the vampire council? Maybe they would know something about this.”

“No,” the vamp says quickly. “I mean, they wouldn’t know anything about human-turned vampires.”

Her initial reaction sparks my interest. She seemed highly against us reaching out to her council. I’m once again reminded that I don’t trust her.

“I can’t contact the vampire council directly without going through our council. And in case you’ve forgotten, we are harboring a fugitive,” Chayton says pointing to Alarick.

“You’re right,” Zyion shrugs.

“Do you think you can find out anything else from this crime scene?” Chayton asks the vamp.

“Yeah, let’s look at the rest of the house.” She moves into the kitchen. Chayton and Alarick follow her.

Before Zyion could walk off, I grab his arm. Tossing my head in the opposite direction as the others, I lead him out the front door. Stopping on the porch, I turn to him.

“Did something seem odd to you just then?”

He shrugs.

“She didn’t want us to reach out to her council. What does her council have to do with her sister running away from a forced marriage.”

“You’re right. That does seem odd.”

“She’s lying. She’s not running from a marriage. I think she’s running from her council.”

He scratches his chin. “You think it’s something like Alarick?”

“No. I’d go out on a limb to say whatever she did, might be bad. I think she’s a fugitive.”

“Should we report her?”

“We can’t. Not without alerting our council. And that’s too risky with Alarick here.”

“Well, what do we do?”

“We wait and we watch. Her story is starting to crumble. Soon it will fall apart.”

Now the argument with the sister makes sense. The youngest had said the oldest had caused a problem. What did she do that would have her hiding out with us?

“Are you going to tell Chayton?”

I shake my head. “Not yet. I want more proof.”

Zyion nods his head in agreement.

We make our way back inside the home. I pretend nothing is amiss, but I watch the vampire more closely. I was determined to discover her secret.

It was after midnight when we got back to Dark Woods. We all went in opposite directions. I walked toward town. I’d made plans with Nadia early, so I was heading to meet her.

Someone coming from the trees caught my attention. They hadn’t noticed me, too busy checking over their shoulders. Silently, I approach the tall figure.

“Gotcha,” I say, startling Torak.

He jumps, turning toward me.

“Enzo,” he chuckles. “You got me. I didn’t see you.”

The laughter fades from my face as a scent that I’ve grown accustomed to over the last four months hit me.

Mixed in with a soft lavender scent, is the faint smell of vampire.

“Where have you been?”

Torak looks startled, but I can tell he doesn’t know I know who he was with.

“I uh, was with a friend.”

Shaking my head, I let out a low growl. “Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing hanging with her?”

His face falls when he realizes he’s been caught.

“Look, I’m not in danger. Just drop it.” He tries to walk around me. I grab his arm and turn him around when I notice the passion mark on his neck.

“You let her suck on your fucking neck,” I snap, yanking his head to the side so I can see the mark better. Torak snatches away from me.

“She didn’t feed. We were just making out.”

I pinch my brow. The need to kick this kid’s ass is strong.

“You can’t be this damn dumb. If your mother finds out, she’s going to lose her shit.”

“She’s not going to find out,” he argues. “Plus, I’m an adult. I’m eighteen. I can make my own decisions.”

“And when the bloodsucker slits your neck and drinks your blood, how do you think your mom will feel?”

He looks completely disgusted at the imagery I painted.

“You don’t know Marley. She isn’t some mindless killing machine. She’s funny, smart, and kind. She would never hurt me.”

“You’re a fool. You have no idea what those monsters are capable of. They do not know love or compassion for anyone but those that are like them. Even if Marley was some rare loving vampire, the others aren’t. They’d kill you for even being near her.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Look around, Torak. Just a few months ago, your pack was trying to kill them. You think they are going to accept the two of you as a couple? Our world won’t let that happen.”

He shakes his head as if he’s trying to loosen the truth of my words from registering.

“Alarick is proof that it could happen.”

Nothing proves more to me how young and na?ve he is than what he just said.

“Alarick’s mother was taken by a vampire against her will. His story is not some sweet romance. He was raised by wolves because his mother didn’t have the heart to abort him. But don’t you ever think it was easy. They moved from pack to pack, trying to find acceptance. Maybe, before you use someone’s name as an example of your bullshit, you should do your research on them.”

“I didn’t know,” he says lowly.

“Vampires can’t be trusted.”

“She’s different,” he argues, but he doesn’t say it as strongly as before.

“No, she isn’t. They are born to lie and manipulate. It’s who they are. If you don’t believe me, ask your mother exactly how your father died.”

I leave him with those words. He needed to know the truth. Vilkas father, our past Alpha, was hardheaded like his son. He wanted power beyond that which he had. He trusted a vampire to bring him that power and sent five scouts out to meet with the bloodsucker. Torak’s father being one. Despite everyone expressing how bad an idea it was. The alpha wouldn’t listen. Torak’s father and the others walked into a deadly ambush. The vampire betrayed the alpha, killing all five scouts.

As I’ve said, vampires can never be trusted.